---
title: React
description: Install and configure Plate UI for React
---

<Callout type="warning" title="Prerequisites">
  Before you begin, ensure you have installed and configured [shadcn/ui](https://ui.shadcn.com/docs/installation) (adapted for your framework, e.g., Vite) and [Plate UI](/docs/installation/plate-ui).
</Callout>

This guide walks you through incrementally building a Plate editor in your project.

<Steps>

### Create Your First Editor

Start by adding the core [Editor](/docs/components/editor) component to your project:

```bash
npx shadcn@latest add https://platejs.org/r/editor
```

Next, create a basic editor in your main application file (e.g. `src/App.tsx`). This example sets up a simple editor within an `EditorContainer`.

```tsx showLineNumbers title="src/App.tsx"
import { Plate, usePlateEditor } from 'platejs/react';

import { Editor, EditorContainer } from '@/components/ui/editor';

export default function App() {
  const editor = usePlateEditor(); // Initializes the editor instance

  return (
    <Plate editor={editor}>      {/* Provides editor context */}
      <EditorContainer>         {/* Styles the editor area */}
        <Editor placeholder="Type your amazing content here..." />
      </EditorContainer>
    </Plate>
  );
}
```

<Callout type="info">
  `usePlateEditor` creates a memoized editor instance, ensuring stability across re-renders. For a non-memoized version, use `createPlateEditor`.
</Callout>

<ComponentPreview name="installation-next-01-editor-demo" height="200px" />

### Adding Basic Marks

Enhance your editor with text formatting. Add the **Basic Nodes Kit**, [FixedToolbar](/docs/components/fixed-toolbar) and [MarkToolbarButton](/docs/components/mark-toolbar-button) components:

```bash
npx shadcn@latest add https://platejs.org/r/basic-nodes-kit https://platejs.org/r/fixed-toolbar https://platejs.org/r/mark-toolbar-button
```

<Callout type="info">
  The `basic-nodes-kit` includes all the basic plugins (bold, italic, underline, headings, blockquotes, etc.) and their components that we'll use in the following steps.
</Callout>

Update your `src/App.tsx` to include these components and the basic mark plugins.
This example adds bold, italic, and underline functionality.

```tsx showLineNumbers title="src/App.tsx" {2,4-8,15-16,18-31,35-36,41-45}
import * as React from 'react';
import type { Value } from 'platejs';

import {
  BoldPlugin,
  ItalicPlugin,
  UnderlinePlugin,
} from '@platejs/basic-nodes/react';
import {
  Plate,
  usePlateEditor,
} from 'platejs/react';

import { Editor, EditorContainer } from '@/components/ui/editor';
import { FixedToolbar } from '@/components/ui/fixed-toolbar';
import { MarkToolbarButton } from '@/components/ui/mark-toolbar-button';

const initialValue: Value = [
  {
    type: 'p',
    children: [
      { text: 'Hello! Try out the ' },
      { text: 'bold', bold: true },
      { text: ', ' },
      { text: 'italic', italic: true },
      { text: ', and ' },
      { text: 'underline', underline: true },
      { text: ' formatting.' },
    ],
  },
];

export default function App() {
  const editor = usePlateEditor({
    plugins: [BoldPlugin, ItalicPlugin, UnderlinePlugin], // Add the mark plugins
    value: initialValue,         // Set initial content
  });

  return (
    <Plate editor={editor}>
      <FixedToolbar className="justify-start rounded-t-lg">
        <MarkToolbarButton nodeType="bold" tooltip="Bold (⌘+B)">B</MarkToolbarButton>
        <MarkToolbarButton nodeType="italic" tooltip="Italic (⌘+I)">I</MarkToolbarButton>
        <MarkToolbarButton nodeType="underline" tooltip="Underline (⌘+U)">U</MarkToolbarButton>
      </FixedToolbar>
      <EditorContainer>
        <Editor placeholder="Type your amazing content here..." />
      </EditorContainer>
    </Plate>
  );
}
```

<ComponentPreview name="installation-next-02-marks-demo" height="200px" />

### Adding Basic Elements

Introduce block-level elements like headings and blockquotes with custom components.

```tsx showLineNumbers title="src/App.tsx" {5,7-9,18,21,23,26-33,50-53,61-65}
import * as React from 'react';
import type { Value } from 'platejs';

import {
  BlockquotePlugin,
  BoldPlugin,
  H1Plugin,
  H2Plugin,
  H3Plugin,
  ItalicPlugin,
  UnderlinePlugin,
} from '@platejs/basic-nodes/react';
import {
  Plate,
  usePlateEditor,
} from 'platejs/react';

import { BlockquoteElement } from '@/components/ui/blockquote-node';
import { Editor, EditorContainer } from '@/components/ui/editor';
import { FixedToolbar } from '@/components/ui/fixed-toolbar';
import { H1Element, H2Element, H3Element } from '@/components/ui/heading-node';
import { MarkToolbarButton } from '@/components/ui/mark-toolbar-button';
import { ToolbarButton } from '@/components/ui/toolbar'; // Generic toolbar button

const initialValue: Value = [
  {
    children: [{ text: 'Title' }],
    type: 'h3',
  },
  {
    children: [{ text: 'This is a quote.' }],
    type: 'blockquote',
  },
  {
    children: [
      { text: 'With some ' },
      { bold: true, text: 'bold' },
      { text: ' text for emphasis!' },
    ],
    type: 'p',
  },
];

export default function App() {
  const editor = usePlateEditor({
    plugins: [
      BoldPlugin,
      ItalicPlugin,
      UnderlinePlugin,
      H1Plugin.withComponent(H1Element),
      H2Plugin.withComponent(H2Element),
      H3Plugin.withComponent(H3Element),
      BlockquotePlugin.withComponent(BlockquoteElement),
    ],
    value: initialValue,
  });

  return (
    <Plate editor={editor}>
      <FixedToolbar className="flex justify-start gap-1 rounded-t-lg">
        {/* Element Toolbar Buttons */}
        <ToolbarButton onClick={() => editor.tf.h1.toggle()}>H1</ToolbarButton>
        <ToolbarButton onClick={() => editor.tf.h2.toggle()}>H2</ToolbarButton>
        <ToolbarButton onClick={() => editor.tf.h3.toggle()}>H3</ToolbarButton>
        <ToolbarButton onClick={() => editor.tf.blockquote.toggle()}>Quote</ToolbarButton>
        {/* Mark Toolbar Buttons */}
        <MarkToolbarButton nodeType="bold" tooltip="Bold (⌘+B)">B</MarkToolbarButton>
        <MarkToolbarButton nodeType="italic" tooltip="Italic (⌘+I)">I</MarkToolbarButton>
        <MarkToolbarButton nodeType="underline" tooltip="Underline (⌘+U)">U</MarkToolbarButton>
      </FixedToolbar>
      <EditorContainer>
        <Editor placeholder="Type your amazing content here..." />
      </EditorContainer>
    </Plate>
  );
}
```

<ComponentPreview name="installation-next-03-elements-demo" height="200px" />

<Callout type="info" title="Component Registration">
  Notice how we use `Plugin.withComponent(Component)` to register components with their respective plugins. This is the recommended approach for associating React components with Plate plugins.

  For a quicker start with common plugins and components pre-configured, use the `editor-basic` block:
  ```bash
  npx shadcn@latest add https://platejs.org/r/editor-basic
  ```
  This handles much of the boilerplate for you.
</Callout>

### Handling Editor Value

To make the editor content persistent, let's integrate `localStorage` to save and load the editor's value.

```tsx showLineNumbers title="src/App.tsx" {55-58,64-66,76-82}
import * as React from 'react';
import type { Value } from 'platejs';

import {
  BlockquotePlugin,
  BoldPlugin,
  H1Plugin,
  H2Plugin,
  H3Plugin,
  ItalicPlugin,
  UnderlinePlugin,
} from '@platejs/basic-nodes/react';
import {
  Plate,
  usePlateEditor,
} from 'platejs/react';

import { BlockquoteElement } from '@/components/ui/blockquote-node';
import { Editor, EditorContainer } from '@/components/ui/editor';
import { FixedToolbar } from '@/components/ui/fixed-toolbar';
import { H1Element, H2Element, H3Element } from '@/components/ui/heading-node';
import { MarkToolbarButton } from '@/components/ui/mark-toolbar-button';
import { ToolbarButton } from '@/components/ui/toolbar';

const initialValue: Value = [
  {
    children: [{ text: 'Title' }],
    type: 'h3',
  },
  {
    children: [{ text: 'This is a quote.' }],
    type: 'blockquote',
  },
  {
    children: [
      { text: 'With some ' },
      { bold: true, text: 'bold' },
      { text: ' text for emphasis!' },
    ],
    type: 'p',
  },
];

export default function App() {
  const editor = usePlateEditor({
    plugins: [
      BoldPlugin,
      ItalicPlugin,
      UnderlinePlugin,
      H1Plugin.withComponent(H1Element),
      H2Plugin.withComponent(H2Element),
      H3Plugin.withComponent(H3Element),
      BlockquotePlugin.withComponent(BlockquoteElement),
    ],
    value: () => {
      const savedValue = localStorage.getItem('installation-react-demo');
      return savedValue ? JSON.parse(savedValue) : initialValue;
    },
  });

  return (
    <Plate
      editor={editor}
      onChange={({ value }) => {
        localStorage.setItem('installation-react-demo', JSON.stringify(value));
      }}
    >
      <FixedToolbar className="flex justify-start gap-1 rounded-t-lg">
        <ToolbarButton onClick={() => editor.tf.h1.toggle()}>H1</ToolbarButton>
        <ToolbarButton onClick={() => editor.tf.h2.toggle()}>H2</ToolbarButton>
        <ToolbarButton onClick={() => editor.tf.h3.toggle()}>H3</ToolbarButton>
        <ToolbarButton onClick={() => editor.tf.blockquote.toggle()}>Quote</ToolbarButton>
        <MarkToolbarButton nodeType="bold" tooltip="Bold (⌘+B)">B</MarkToolbarButton>
        <MarkToolbarButton nodeType="italic" tooltip="Italic (⌘+I)">I</MarkToolbarButton>
        <MarkToolbarButton nodeType="underline" tooltip="Underline (⌘+U)">U</MarkToolbarButton>
        <div className="flex-1" />
        <ToolbarButton
          className="px-2"
          onClick={() => editor.tf.setValue(initialValue)}
        >
          Reset
        </ToolbarButton>
      </FixedToolbar>
      <EditorContainer>
        <Editor placeholder="Type your amazing content here..." />
      </EditorContainer>
    </Plate>
  );
}
```

<ComponentPreview name="installation-next-demo" />

### Next Steps

Congratulations! You've built a foundational Plate editor in your project.

To further enhance your editor:

*   **Explore Components:** Discover [Toolbars, Menus, Node components](/docs/components), and more.
*   **Add Plugins:** Integrate features like [Tables](/docs/plugins/table), [Mentions](/docs/plugins/mention), [AI](/docs/plugins/ai), or [Markdown](/docs/plugins/markdown).
*   **Use Editor Blocks:** Quickly set up pre-configured editors:
    *   Basic editor: `npx shadcn@latest add https://platejs.org/r/editor-basic`
    *   AI-powered editor: `npx shadcn@latest add https://platejs.org/r/editor-ai`
*   **Learn More:**
    *   [Editor Configuration](/docs/editor)
    *   [Plugin Configuration](/docs/plugin)
    *   [Plugin Components](/docs/plugin-components)

</Steps>
